Tag: paella

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Spanish inspired rice dish

paella

I made and cooked a paella, or a Spanish inspired rice dish.

I diced an onion, some red pepper, some green pepper, and some chestnut mushrooms. I also diced up some chorizo sausage as well.

In a hot large frying pan, I put some olive oil and I cooked off some smoked pancetta. I then added the diced onion, pepper, and mushroom. I also added some green beans.

When this was softened, I added 200g of paella rice. To this I added some paella seasoning, paella seasoning, Carmencita Paellero Paella Spice Mix.

This is according to the description the number one selling spice mix in Spain.

I ensured that the rice was coated added some chicken stock and water. Stirred once and left it to cook.

Before serving I added some cooked sliced chorizo and chunks of lemon.

I served this with some freshly cooked fish and salad.

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Cooked a Paella

I made and cooked a paella, or a Spanish inspired rice dish.

I diced an onion and a some red pepper, some yellow pepper, and some chestnut mushrooms.

In a hot large frying pan, I put some olive oil and I cooked off some smoked pancetta. I then added the diced onion, pepper, and mushroom. When this was softened, I added 200g of paella rice.

To this I added some paella seasoning, paella seasoning, Carmencita Paellero Paella Spice Mix.

This is according to the description the number one selling spice mix in Spain.

I ensured that the rice was coated added some chicken stock and water. Stirred once and left it to cook.

Before serving I added some cooked sliced chorizo.

I served this with some freshly cooked fish and salad.

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What should I have?

I was in Bristol and looking for some lunch. As it was a Monday there was no Finzel Reach or Temple Quay street food markets. I headed off to the St Nicholas Market to see what was available. There is a wide choice of places to eat there, though not all are open on a Monday. As per usual there was a long queue for Matina for their excellent Kurdish wraps, even with the recent “dramatic” price increase. I remember the time they were less than a fiver, now they are over eight pounds each. Well I suspect costs have risen for them, they had to rise at some point, but they appears to be rising quite a lot over the last couple of years.

I still have to try the MOMO bar, but decided that wasn’t going to be today. I did consider going for the Low and Slow barbecue box, but in the end headed to La Lola.

The last time I ate at La Lola I had the crispy squid, but wasn’t too enamoured with their chipped potatoes, which were like thick crisps.

This time I went for their seafood paella. I was served quickly, and this a good looking paella with a nice amount of seafood, which included prawns, squid, and mussels.

paella

This was a delicious paella, lots of flavour. 

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Made some paella

I made and cooked a paella, or a Spanish inspired rice dish.

paella

I diced an onion and a pointed red pepper.  In a hot large frying pan, I put some olive oil and I cooked off bacon lardons, and some diced chorizo.  I then added the diced onion and pepper. When this was softened, I added some sliced mushroom. Once this was stirred in I added 250g of paella rice.

To this I added some paella seasoning, paella seasoning, Carmencita Paellero Paella Spice Mix.

This is according to the description the number one selling spice mix in Spain.

I ensured that the rice was coated I added a splash of sherry. I then added some chicken stock and water. Stirred once and left it to cook.

I added some more water as it cooked.

Before serving I added some cooked sliced chorizo, freshly chopped parsley, and some chunks of lemon.

I served this with some freshly cooked fish and salad.

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Cooked Paella

I made and cooked paella this evening.

I diced an onion, red pepper.  In a hot large frying pan, I put some olive oil and I cooked off some bacon lardons.  I then added the diced onion and pepper. When this was softened, I added some sliced baby courgette and diced mushroom. Once this was stirred in I added 250g of paella rice. 

To this I added some paella seasoning, paella seasoning, Carmencita Paellero Paella Spice Mix.

This is according to the description the number one selling spice mix in Spain.

I ensured that the rice was coated I added some fish stock and water. Stirred once and left it to cook.

Before serving I added some cooked sliced chorizo, freshly chopped parsley, and some chunks of lemon.

I served this with some freshly cooked fish and salad.

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Trying a new Paella Seasoning

I have made my version of paella for many years. Well maybe I should call it a Spanish inspired rice dish, rather than paella.

Recently I have been using a jar of paella paste from Waitrose when cooking paella, however it looks like they have stopped selling it. M&S have stopped selling their paste as well, and Tesco haven’t sold their paella seasoning for a couple of years now. I wouldn’t buy the Schwartz paella seasoning as it uses turmeric rather than saffron. I have been known to creating my own “seasoning” using saffron and I did think I would have to go down that road. It was suggested to me to look on Amazon, so I did, and found some paella seasoning. I ordered some. The Carmencita Paellero Paella Spice Mix is according to the description the number one selling spice mix in Spain.

I used it when cooking a paella and was pleased with the end result. It looked excellent.

It also tasted great when we had it with our New Year fish supper. It is something I would use again and will order more once I run out.

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New Year Fish Supper

An annual tradition in our house is to have a fish supper on New Year’s Eve. This year we had a great selection of fish and seafood.

I bought some prosecco & lemon butter lobster tails from Aldi, these were rather good.

I made some crispy squid, using some fresh squid, which I then coated in seasoned flour and fried in oil. A combination of a crisp crunchy coating and sweet tender squid.

I also cooked some queen scallops, simply pan fried in butter.

I did baked lemon salmon fillets in the oven.

The prawns were cooked in a pan with herbs and butter.

All served with homemade paella.

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Paella

Dare I call this dish paella? Well this Spanish inspired rice dish is a regular dish in our house.

I diced a red onion, red pepper and mushrooms. In a hot large frying pan, I put some olive oil and I cooked off some smoked pancetta bacon. 

I then added the diced onion and pepper. When this was softened, I added 250g of paella rice. I ensured that this was then coated with the peppers and onions in the pan. I let this cook for a minute or so before adding a jar of paella paste from Waitrose. 

After stirring in the paste I added some chicken stock. Stirred once and left it to cook.

Before serving I added some cooked sliced chorizo and chunks of lemon.

I served it with some pan fried tuna steaks.

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Preparado paella con caldo

On holiday in Spain recently I picked up this Alteza pack from the freezer at Dialprix.

Preparado paella alteza con caldo

I thought it was frozen paella. It wasn’t, it was a paella mix, with the ingredients for paella and included broth, but no rice!

With a small self-catering kitchen I had a go though, using some cooked long grain rice, instead of proper paella rice.

The mix was defrosted in the fridge and then cooked in a pan, before adding the rice and the broth and cooking for a little longer.

Preparado paella con caldo

Obviously if I could have used proper rice, it probably would have been better. It was certainly interesting, but even though I didn’t cook it for as long as indicated on the instructions, I still think the seafood was overcooked.

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Squid Ink Paella

When I was down in Ealing at La Rueda Tapas Bar in Ealing I was initially tempted by the paella choices they had, including a squid ink paella. In the end we had tapas. I would have liked to try a squid ink paella.

Recently I was working in Bristol, and went for a walk at lunchtime with a plan on getting something to eat. It was a Thursday so I headed out to the Temple Quay Market. Didn’t really fancy anything from the market, so I headed to the St Nicholas Market. It was rather busy. In the end I headed down towards La Lola for some squid or paella.

I was impressed to see that La Lola have expanded their menu and one of the choices was a squid ink paella. Well it was bit of a no-brainer, so I decided to try out their dish.

As with previous visits, I was given a warm welcome, I ordered my paella and took a seat. It arrived quite quickly, with some aioli and a slice of lemon.

You have to say that the dish is very black, very black indeed.

I have to say that it doesn’t look that appetising, however it was very tasty. There was squid and prawns in the rice.

I am not sure I would have it again, but I am glad I tried it and it was good.